17 pages • 34-minute read
Dusting
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Background
Literary Context
Nelson is lyric and narrative poet who writes for adults, children, and young adults. Nelson began writing poems that engaged with domestic and women’s issues, while she also explored religious themes and social indignities, including the challenges of travel as a member of a diverse population. As a writer of African-American heritage, she has written extensively about her own family’s history, the trauma of slavery, and contemporary racism. Her poetry written for young adults about notable African American figures, such as Emmett Till and George Washington Carver, has received numerous accolades. Nelson is not married to a single audience or style, writing in free verse and in rhymed forms. The musicality of her language is universally noted by critics, as is her sensitivity to the human condition. Her literary heroes include significant African-American poets such as Countee Cullen, Lawrence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Nelson is also noted for her work with younger writers of color, particularly through Soul Mountain, a poetry retreat which she founded in 2002. She has collaborated with other significant African-American female poets, including Elizabeth Alexander. In an interview with Image Journal, Nelson notes that she thinks “Poems come out of silence, out of the accidental and intentional juxtaposition of combustible thoughts, and emerge on the page or in the air, as words and meaning (one hopes). I encourage my students to meditate, as a way of entering that silence where poems are born” (See: Further Reading & Resources).
Religious Context
“Dusting” was first published in the collection Magnificat (1994). According to Publisher’s Weekly, this collection deals with “the joys and frustrations of [Nelson’s] quest for spiritual awakening” (see: Further Reading & Resources). The book explores Nelson’s friendship with a man who became a Benedictine monk and the feelings of “religious devotion” he inspired in Nelson. This culminated in the poet “realiz[ing] the blessedness found in ordinary things,” something that can be exemplified by “Dusting[’s]” focus on a common task. The Benedictines are a religious order of the Catholic Church and follow the rule of Saint Benedict, which stresses prayer and work, aspects also seen in Nelson’s poem. This monastic order also elevates the belief in community, harmonious cooperation, and relational connection, which are evident when Nelson’s speaker alludes to the symbiotic relationships in their scientific metaphors. Aspects of Judeo-Christian liturgy find their way directly into Nelson’s poems that appear in Magnificat, a fact made evident by Nelson’s title. In religious terms, the Magnificat refers to a series of four hymns credited to the Virgin Mary, which are cited in Luke’s Gospel in the Bible. These are often sung by Benedictines during evening time or in the very early morning when it is still dark, during a canonical hour called matins, or vigil. The poem “Matins (2:30 A.M.)” (See: Further Reading & Resources) directly precedes “Dusting” in Magnificat. As a piece of liturgy, the Magnificat praises the greatness of God, with the worshipper finding gratitude and delight in the world as an extension of God’s holiness. In the hymnal series, Mary positions herself as God’s humble servant. The lowly act of dusting is given the weight of holy service in Nelson’s poem.
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